Sapphire Princess 12 day Sydney-Auckland

[Red Rox]

I have previously posted a report on our 8 day precruise land tour in Australia. We arrived back in Sydney in the late afternoon and boarded the ship at about 6PM on Saturday Feb 2nd.

Our minisuite was almost identical to the one that we enjoyed last summer on the Coral in Alaska, Dolphin 320. Some friends that we met on the land tour were originally booked for 322 right next to us but were upgraded a week before departure to a full suite on the Emerald deck, 733. We got a chance to see their suite and compare. Functionally it was about the same except that the bathroom is much nicer and they do have additional closet and storage space. We decided though, that for our own needs, our minisuite worked well, and although we would always welcome a visit from the upgrade fairy, we probably won't opt to spend the extra money for a full suite on our next cruise.

Our steward was friendly, attentive and efficient. I gave him a small tip when we arrived (as I usually do), and I gave him something extra when we left. Overall, we were more than satisfied with the job he did for us.

We did like the added dining options on the Sapphire. We had anytime dining, but that meant that we had to select which dining room we wanted go to each night. The menus are the same although each room also features a signiature dish that is unique to that dining room and is offered every night. We rotated through the 4 places and returned to the ones we liked the most. Our preferences were more related to the specific servers than the restaurants, and we requested a table at Parsh's station in Savoy most often. He was both fun and efficient. As we were usually dining later in the evening (around 8PM) we often found that we were among the last to leave the dining rooms as they were closing at 10PM. The exception to this was at Vivaldi which doesn't begin service until 8:15 and closes later.

We also went to Sabatinis one night. It was a nice change and a longer dining experience and of course, included a lot more food. We went as a party of 8 and we all agreed it was worth the $20 surcharge, but you should go hungry, and expect a different type of meal than you'll find elsewhere.

We found the wine list to be satisfactory and the prices were reasonable. We also had purchased wine while on the land tour and at some of our early port stops, so we had wine to enjoy in our staterooms before dinner each night, and often gathered as a group for wine and hor d'oerves before dinner each night. There were complimentary snacks delivered to our friends in their full suite, and we also would put together a cheese platter from the Horizon buffet that we could then bring back to our staterooms to share. And we also realized that we could carry our own full glasses of wine into the dining rooms when we went to dinner. This reduced our wine expenses at Princess prices.

As for the food... Overall we felt that it was good but not great. This is pretty much consistent with Princess' reputation compared to other cruise lines. The appetizers and soups at dinner (especially the chilled soups) were probably our favorite parts of the meals. The main courses offered a decent variety, but one should not expect gourmet fare on this ship. The buffet at Horizon was equally good, but not great. They serve the same basic food, but buffet style. It's easy to eat well and enjoy yourself from a dining aspect, but as I said, this is not exceptionally fine dining.

Since were were usually dining late, we went to the late shows after dinner. We thought the production shows were better than we had anticipated. The quality of the music, costumes and dancers was very impressive. The first comic show was lame at best. I have purposely forgotten his name. However the second comedy show with Bobby Dennis was very good.

The ship itself is the biggest that we've been on. I know there are a few out there that are larger, but the Sapphire had everything that we could want and it was layed out in a comfortable fashion. We choose to use the stairs instead of the elevators and got plenty of exercise going from the 5th to the 15th level several times a day.

It was comfortable on sea days and when at sea over night, in spite of the fact that we did experience some bad weather.

I'll comment on the itinerary and specifics about some of our port excursions in a subsequent post in this thread. I hope this info is helpful. Feel free to ask questions. I'll monitor this thread.

[Robin7]

I'll comment on the itinerary and specifics about some of our port excursions in a subsequent post in this thread. I hope this info is helpful. Feel free to ask questions. I'll monitor this thread.

 

I'll look forward to reading about your port stops!

 

Robin

[margord]

Anxiously waiting to here about the rest of the trip.

[gamelady]

Hurry, hurry! We leave in 2 days =)

[NANCYR2]

I am looking forward to hearing more about your cruise.

[Red Rox]

Sail away was at 9PM and it was awesome. It's always cool when you're on a big ship and it starts to move. We were all up on deck 15 for the celebration. The bridge was lit up, and the weather was pleasant. It was a party.

The next day was a sea day with smooth sailing and good weather, slightly overcast skies, but we spent some time on the deck in the sun. This was also the first formal night. We enjoy getting dressed up since we don't ever do it here at home in Sedona, So we all wore our formal duds and had some pictures taken. We even had some that were good enough to buy! We'll give them to our kids and grandkids.

Our first port call was Melbourne. For those who followed our pre-cruise roll call thread, you know that we prebooked tours at almost every port, and did several together with other CC posters. This was one. Annatoo was extremely helpful and our first tour together demonstrated this.

We did the trip with a company called A Tour With A Difference. The owner Brian and his wife provided a pair of 10 passenger Mercedes vans with glass roofs. These vehicles made for a comfortable and personalized trip. We had to hurry off the ship when it docked and they had a problem with the gangway apparatus, so we were somewhat delayed. The reason was that our first stop was for the Puffing Billy Train. We drove up into the Dandenong Mtns and arrived in time for the train ride. Following that we drove on to the Yarra Valley wine country, with a great narration all the way, and arrived at the Rocheford Winery. There we enjoyed a 30 minute wine tasting session followed by an excellent lunch, including more wine. We had enough time to purchase some wine to take along to enjoy on the ship. Our next stop was the Healesville Sanctuary, where we again enjoyed our own personal guided tour through the park. By now we had seen and interacted with all of the creatures that we had hoped to see, having already visited several wildlife centers on our precruise land tour. Our list was completely checked off. We returned to the ship in time for the sailaway secure in knowing that we wouldn't be left behind, even though we weren't booked on a tour through Princess. I say this, because we saw some of our fellow passengers at every stop during the day doing the Princess' own trips. None of them however, were able to all of what we did, and they all paid far more for their tours than we paid. When we left Healesville the Princess buses still hadn't loaded yet, and they returned to the ship about 20 minutes behind us. It was a full day for us at a great price. Thanks again Annatoo.

Our next day was a sea day as we crossed to Tasmania. The weather was overcast, and the seas were around 3-6 feet but the ship remained comfortable.

We docked earlier the next day at Hobart and were met by Graeme Wheler from IBus tours. I had booked a trip with him to the prison colomy at Port Arthur. Again we had two 12 passenger vehicles for our cruisecritic group. These vans were unique in that they had large video monitors that are triggered by a GPS system, so in addition to Graeme's informative narration, we also had a map to view and occasional short videos about the history and the historical people and places as we passed them by on our 1 hour drive down to Port Arthur. There we had a few hours to do the guided walking tour and then wander through the site on our own, followed by the 1/2 hour boat tour of the harbor and around the Isle of the Dead. We took a different route back to Hobart via the historic town of Richmond where we were also able to spend some time shopping and exploring at our own pace before returning to the ship. Again we saw many of our fellow cruisers along the way, but I'm confident that none of them enjoyed as full a day or as good a value as we did.

Our next two days crossing the Tasman Sea to New Zealand were not the best weatherwise. The seas were 6-9 feet and the skies were mostly cloudy and temps were cool. Nevertheless we enjoyed the sea days and busied ourselves with card games and on board activities. It was on one of these days that we were all required to visit the immigration authorities on board the ship to get cleared to enter NZ.

Our arrival in Milford Sound was early in the morning but certainly worth getting up to see. It reminded me of some of the places that we cruised last year in Alaska. Towering cliffs and dramatic waterfalls made for great photos from our balconey while we enjoyed coffee with the Baileys (that I smuggled on board;) ).

After cruising back out of the fjord we enjoyed a late breakfast and played cards again while we cruised and enjoyed 2 more fjord visits later in the day.

Our first port in NZ was Dunedin. Here we had been fortunate to book the day with Arthurs Tours. Arthur himself was in the larger coach that went to Larnach castle and then out to see the Albatross breeding grounds. The day was overcast. We instead had a smaller van with only the six of us and Arthur's wife Colleen and Charlie the driver. Ours was the architectual tour. We stopped at the railway station and Colleen pointed out many of the other historical buildings that have been preserved in Dunedin. Then we went up to Larnach Castle where Colleen gave us her own guided tour of the home. Lunch afterward was at a delightful garden park with a small cafe on site called Peckish Cafe. It was casual and homey and magical in a way. On our drive back into the city we learned about more of the history of the area including information about the early homes that were settled there. At 2PM we arrived at the Speights Brewery. We enjoyed a 45 minute tour of this historic brewery followed by 45 minutes of time to sample the product and interact with a few of the employees and other tour companions. They produce about 7 or 8 different beers and of course we had to try them all, but we were instructed to do it on our own. We drew our own glasses from the taps and there was no limit. Needless to say it was an enjoyable conclusion to the tour, and we were glad that we had a designated driver. On the way back to the ship we drove up Baldwin Street. This is reported to be the steepest street in the world. Unlike Lombard St in San Francisco, Baldwin Street is a straight run up an even higher hill! Since we were in a small private van, Charlie was able to drive us all the way to the top and back down again. We realized later that the folks who were touring that day on larger coaches could only do a 'drive by' here. There's no way a bus could drive up or down the street. Another bonus for us!

Our next day was Christchurch. This was the only day that my little group didn't plan a set tour. Annatoo had booked a large coach to go to Arthur's Pass, but apparently due to rainy weather, they changed the destination and went south to the Akora volcanic area instead. We took the shuttle bus into Christchurch and toured the city on our own. We bought the $14 ticket for the tram that goes around the central city area. The driver Colin was so entertaining he alone was worth the price of the ticket! The full circle takes about 25 minutes, but there are about 10 stops and you can get on and off all day long. So we rode the full circle and then decided where we wanted to go. We spent time in the Art Museam district. We chose to skip 'Punting on the Avon'. We found a great place for lunch called the Coffee House. We did some shopping. We toured the church at Cathedral Square. The weather turned nice and the sun came out. It was a great day.

The next day was our last sea day and proved to be pretty nice for the sun deck. It was also our second and last formal night.

The following day was at Tauranga. We booked RT#4 to Roturua and the Maori Cultural Center with Ian at Mount Classic Tours. It was to be a long day (about 9 hours). Unfortunately my wife wasn't feeling well, so I opted out of the trip. I had met another couple from Arizona on our land tour and so I offered my tickets to them. They were glad to go along with the other 2 Sedona couples and they all reported that they had a great day. The guide was excellent and the tour was a blast. I made sure that my wife was comfortable and then went out for a walk around the little port town. There's a small mountain (hill) at the end of town that has a trail that goes up and over the top and also a 2 mile path that follows the shoreline around the base. I chose to walk the shore path and had a wonderful time. Although I was walking by myself, i wasn't alone. There were plenty of other folks walking in both directions on the circular path. I also took some time to walk along the main beach and to stroll through the business district. I found some nice sidewalk cafes and enjoyed a snack and a beverage. It was a beautiful sunny day, and despite my late change of plans, I had a good one.

We arrived early the next morning in Auckland. It was the end of our cruise and time to disembark, but we didn't have to fly out until 7:30PM, so we booked our only Princess tour of the cruise. This insured that they would handle our luggage for us all day while we enjoyed ourselves. And we did. We did the Antarctic Expedition tour. It included a tour of the city by coach, a visit to Auckland's SkyTower, and a trip to Kelly Tarleton's Underwater theme park. I recommend it all. And we had time to have lunch with our small group (now 8) at the Orbit Restaurant in the SkyTower (reservations required), before we were transported to the airport for the long flight home. I had booked the lunch reservations on line before we left home in January. It was Valentines Day and it was a fun way to end a fabulous trip.

The flights home were on time and although it was the longest day of my life (like 37 hours! We left at 7:30PM and traveled for 14 hours and got home at 4:30PM the same day!) We were glad to get home and hug our dogs and sleep in our own bed!

[margord]

Sounds like a fabulous trip. Thanks so much for sharing. I have one question. If you decide to do the tours on your own do you need to get a group together or can you book just the two of you and they add other people to the tour?

 

Marilee

[Red Rox]

Sounds like a fabulous trip. Thanks so much for sharing. I have one question. If you decide to do the tours on your own do you need to get a group together or can you book just the two of you and they add other people to the tour?

 

Marilee

I was typically booking for our party of six. Sometimes there were a few others from the CC roll call group who wanted to join. If the operator requires a minimum, they will tell you so and attempt to fill it with the general public. This is why CC was so valuable to me. I not only learned about the tours and providers, but I also was able to fill the groups when I needed to. Is there a roll call group for your cruise? Are you participating?

Funny story... On the first day on board the ship we were in the laundry. One of our tour mates walked in and commented about me being from Sedona. A lady who I had never seen or heard of before who was ironing, asked me if I was part of the CC roll call and if I knew Pinksuit (another participator). I told her yes and yes. She told me that she had been a lurker and never signed in. She was one of those people who wound up using Princess for her shore trips and paid way more than we did! BTW, I calculated that my wife and I saved over $1,000 by booking our tours privately for this trip. That's a nice down payment on our next cruise!

[margord]

I was typically booking for our party of six. Sometimes there were a few others from the CC roll call group who wanted to join. If the operator requires a minimum, they will tell you so and attempt to fill it with the general public. This is why CC was so valuable to me. I not only learned about the tours and providers, but I also was able to fill the groups when I needed to. Is there a roll call group for your cruise? Are you participating?

Funny story... On the first day on board the ship we were in the laundry. One of our tour mates walked in and commented about me being from Sedona. A lady who I had never seen or heard of before who was ironing, asked me if I was part of the CC roll call and if I knew Pinksuit (another participator). I told her yes and yes. She told me that she had been a lurker and never signed in. She was one of those people who wound up using Princess for her shore trips and paid way more than we did! BTW, I calculated that my wife and I saved over $1,000 by booking our tours privately for this trip. That's a nice down payment on our next cruise!

 

Thanks so much for the information. I am participating in our rollcall but so far just a few people. Hopefully it will grow as we get closer.

 

Marilee

[ras2007]

Hi, I'm a self-confessed lurker that is on the 3/21 roll call for the Sapphire...

There are reports on that roll call from pax on January cruises that there are 3 formal nights. I notice you say "second and last formal night"...Was there an optional one or truly only 2? (Yes, I know Princess lit says 2 for a 12-niter but these pax had 3.on same ship, same itinerary..Capt or CD discretion? Did Capt or CD change recemtly?)

 

Anyway, Thanks for great reviews!

[susierailroad]

Red Rox: Where is the pre cruise info posted. We'll be in Cairns following our 3/9 Sapphire cruise and I'm very much interested in your info. (Loved reading your cruise post!) In particular, I wonder if you have an opinion on the best place to stay to "do" that area: ie. Cairns itself or would Port douglas be a better base of operation? We plan to do Kuranda, too. Did you visit Featherdale and/or the Blue Mountains in Sydney prior to boarding? Thanks,

[Red Rox]

Hi, I'm a self-confessed lurker that is on the 3/21 roll call for the Sapphire...

There are reports on that roll call from pax on January cruises that there are 3 formal nights. I notice you say "second and last formal night"...Was there an optional one or truly only 2? (Yes, I know Princess lit says 2 for a 12-niter but these pax had 3.on same ship, same itinerary..Capt or CD discretion? Did Capt or CD change recemtly?)

 

Anyway, Thanks for great reviews!

We had only 2 formal nights as I mentioned. Same itinerary, Captain Nick Bates was a hoot and did a fine job. CD was Paul (I can't recall his last name), also very entertaining and enjoyable. I met him a couple times during the cruise.

[Red Rox]

Red Rox: Where is the pre cruise info posted. We'll be in Cairns following our 3/9 Sapphire cruise and I'm very much interested in your info. (Loved reading your cruise post!) In particular, I wonder if you have an opinion on the best place to stay to "do" that area: ie. Cairns itself or would Port douglas be a better base of operation? We plan to do Kuranda, too. Did you visit Featherdale and/or the Blue Mountains in Sydney prior to boarding? Thanks,

I see you found the thread and I answered the questions that you posted there for you.

Reagrding Sydney, we did not do Featherdale, but I read elsewhere just recently that others didn't think it was all that great, and after all of the other wildlife centers that we did, I don't think we missed anything. And no, we didn't do the Blue Mtns either. Some from our roll call group did, and apparently enjoyed it. I've seen photos though, and as I mentioned earlier, (and I'm not trying to be snobbish) but we live in Sedona, so mountainous rocky cliff formations are something that I can literally see outside my window as I type this. I think we saw and did other things around Sydney that were a greater enhancement to our own vacation needs.

[ras2007]

Thanks for the quick response --I just put another question for you over on the NZ exit fee thread about money matters! Sorry to be a pain but the most recent experience makes you the expert of the day!

[4cats4me]

Funny story... On the first day on board the ship we were in the laundry. One of our tour mates walked in and commented about me being from Sedona. A lady who I had never seen or heard of before who was ironing, asked me if I was part of the CC roll call and if I knew Pinksuit (another participator). I told her yes and yes. She told me that she had been a lurker and never signed in. She was one of those people who wound up using Princess for her shore trips and paid way more than we did! BTW, I calculated that my wife and I saved over $1,000 by booking our tours privately for this trip. That's a nice down payment on our next cruise!

 

It's a small world! That lady is my good friend Jean.

For Jean and her husband, as this was only their second cruise, for them

to purchase the Princess-sponsored tours offered them peace of

mind. For them, and many others I'm sure, paying a little extra

is worth it.:)

 

But good for you RedRox for saving $1 K -- and BTW, I enjoyed your review very much!

[Red Rox]

It's a small world! That lady is my good friend Jean.

For Jean and her husband, as this was only their second cruise, for them

to purchase the Princess-sponsored tours offered them peace of

mind. For them, and many others I'm sure, paying a little extra

is worth it.:)

 

But good for you RedRox for saving $1 K -- and BTW, I enjoyed your review very much!

I can relate to the 'peace of mind' issue. The last thing that any of us wanted to do was have to chase the cruise ship to the next port. That would be a vacation spoiler, not to mention the expense. But I learned from some of the tour providers in Alaska last year that it's even more important to them. Their livelihood is on the line. Imagine what would happen to their business if word went around that they failed to get their passengers back to the port in time for sailaway. Bye bye business.:o

I didn't mean to dis your friend Jean. I hope though that she'll participate in the forums though. It's the people who ask questions and share their experiences that make this site work. Please tell her hello from me. I'm sorry we didn't get to chat more. It is indeed a small world. Perhaps our paths will cross again.;)

[margord]

I can relate to the 'peace of mind' issue. The last thing that any of us wanted to do was have to chase the cruise ship to the next port. That would be a vacation spoiler, not to mention the expense. But I learned from some of the tour providers in Alaska last year that it's even more important to them. Their livelihood is on the line. Imagine what would happen to their business if word went around that they failed to get their passengers back to the port in time for sailaway. Bye bye business.:o

I didn't mean to dis your friend Jean. I hope though that she'll participate in the forums though. It's the people who ask questions and share their experiences that make this site work. Please tell her hello from me. I'm sorry we didn't get to chat more. It is indeed a small world. Perhaps our paths will cross again.;)

 

I am hoping some of your fellow travellers on our roll call are interested in sharing excursions. That would be fun.

 

Marilee